Online Marketing Options and Helpful Advice From MerchantAdvantage CEO

SPECIAL COMMENTARY

Online Marketing Options and Helpful Advice Going Into 2009

by Michael Lambert, CEO of MerchantAdvantage

It would seem that with all the articles, blogs, webinars, seminars and trade magazines available that all merchants would be completely in the know and up to date on, well, everything. But instead merchants feel they are under-knowledged in terms of what to do.

All of these information dissemination techniques lack the one thing that everyone thinks they want: One Simple Answer.

My belief is that if there was one simple answer, then there would be virtually no way to separate from the pack.  There would be little or no value in going the extra mile, showing up in an unexpected place, or providing special pricing or service.  The truth, for me, is that the difficulty of certain situations is the true opportunity to stand out and be recognized.  But there truly is a great deal to consider when it comes to online marketing.

SEO - Should an online retailer care, or invest heavily in Search Engine Optimization?  Search Engine Optimization allows merchants to leverage their efforts in terms of creating valuable content for their consumers. If a merchants content is well created, and there is interest in that content, then SEO can attract consumers from Google and other search sites.

But at what point does scrutinizing over text and such become an over expensive advertising campaign generating a great deal of interest in non-consumers generating much more work than sales?  The essence of SEO is to be to the point and be as specific as possible about the product, but in a way that matches how consumers look for you products instead of what researchers might type into the search engines.

SEM - Search Engine Marketing is the practice of purchasing space within the search engines to attract those interested in you based on selected keywords that might be typed into the search engine.  By paying for each click that occurs, it once again makes sense to focus a specifically and accurately as possible on words that would be typed by a perspective purchaser. The success of such a campaign might be measured by how much you pay in clicks vs how much you sold directly or indirectly from those clicks. These efforts are somewhat cluttered as many other marketing efforts for which you may compete with your SEM efforts.

CSE - A huge number of online shoppers constantly search for the best places to shop. They often do so using Consumer Shopping Engines (CSEs....better than Comparison Shopping Engines, I think).  Once again you pay for this traffic, so if it doesn’t convert than you’re paying for nothing. How can a merchant keep up with all that is necessary to  perform well in such channels? Click and Purchase tracking, and more importantly the analysis that goes with it, is without question the key to successful CSE marketing.

Enhanced Site Search - Buy providing a better user experience, many merchants find their conversions are greatly enhanced. Providing an easier and more feature rich site search tends to convert lookers to buyers, but with so many other factors in constant flux, this can be difficult to measure.  So finding a site search tool that also increasing some other aspect of marketing would likely yield the best result. An example of enahnced site search can be found with SLI Systems, with whom I recently gave a free Webinar with explaning the many benefits of enhanced site search.

WEB 2.0 - By providing feedback mechanisms such as product evaluations and consumer reviews, news and rss feeds etc... a retailer stays in touch with their consumers and the consumers needs.  This doesn’t always directly translate into profit, but almost always aids in online retailers success, depending on the focus of the online retailer.

So, I think we’re back to the original point, which is that when there is so much information, and so many options, how is a merchant to know which options are best for them? Are all of these marketing efforts needed? 

What’s the one simple answer to this?

In an article that I released through linked in a few months ago I lashed out at retailers complaining that CSEs were really too difficult, and they should be  made easier. In short, I said that with all of the tools and support information available to retailers by the CSEs themselves as well as third party tools (such as MerchantAdvantage), merchants wishing to succeed should take full advantage of such support.

So, for those of you wishing for a simple answer to the questions presented, namely do I need all of these marketing techniques, here’s just one simple answer:  To whatever degree you wish for success, the answer is - YES.

NOTE: Everyone wants a simple path that leads to their goals. But more often the simple path leads to a less desirable destination.

- Michael Lambert, CEO of MerchantAdvantage
(a Web-based tool, marketing company)

Comments

[Webmarketing]

This is an informative post. The statements mentioned above are indeed essential in Internet Marketing. Knowing those things will help you as you go through the world of Web Marketing.

[Computer Consultant]

Useful advice. Like you said its getting harder and harder for small sites to compete.